Ansett. What are you doing 6 years on

[midsection]

:D
Hi All
Just thinking about some of the great people I meet at AN.
What are you all up to these days.
Myself, I have moved away from aviation. Some days I miss it, others not at all.
I had some great times flying and really did meet some wonderful people.
:rolleyes::8

[Buster Hyman]

Tried a few airlines, but they were nothing like AN, so I'm out of it now. Working for the Goverment (not Centrelink) and wondering why I didn't do it earlier! What a life!:cool:

[jupiter2]

Went to the railways.

I had the same experience as "Buster". Went to the other major airline after AN and found it and every other I worked for, in a word...."unremarkable". In fact I could add that the experience was quite negative.

Glad I made the move.

Never any talk of an oil crisis, share slides, takeovers, mergers or collapse in the railways.

Rarely have anything less than a smile on my face these days.

As they say...."you can't take the train home with you!":ok:

[boocs]

In a strange twist, I joined 3 other airlines, the 3rd being the best move. My career advanced extremely quickly, even to the extent that I have seen promotion quicker than if AN were still around. Of course this meant that I'm not living in Oz, however for the moment enjoying the overseas experience. Certainly, my current employer is nothing like AN, and I am almost certain that there will never be another carrier like them today.
I loved my time with AN and they were some of the best days of my life, the irony however, that with them failing my career finally 'took off'.

[Ovation]

Flying as a passenger with Qantas unfortunately.

[flyer_18-737]

Tiger has got alot of Ansett A320 crew as I have seen, as in they have had 7 or so years break, and Now back into it!

[shnev]

Never 'flew' for Ansett, however.. In my career

-My IFR instructor was AN C&C (737) and an absolute sterling bloke. He's now flying the Singapore biz jet out of the Gold Caost (I think?)

-A fellow captain I flew with in PNG was a captain in AN, and again... nothing less than a legend. he's still in PNG.

- My current F50 groundschool teacher and training captain was C&C (F50) in Ansett. An absolute honour to sit next to him too :ok:

... from where I'm sitting, they had a good bunch of people working for them. :ok:

[PyroTek]

Though I was never Ansett Crew.. Unless they accepted 5 year olds with no flying experience...
I found this a few weeks ago, it is my dads.

Not sure I ever flew on Ansett I must say, I do remember we were on a road trip Melbourne to Brisbane when the close happened. I'll just say, we cut about a day off our journey and drove all the way home, due to the fact every motel had no vacancies.

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5453/ansett001sek6.jpg

[Big Night Sky]

At least 30 ex AN guys at Dragonair in Hong Kong. Most got their commands there in under 3 years. All of them good guys!

[MCKES]

Never flew for Ansett, But I know someone very close who was high up in such a high caliber airline.
I can still remember the visits to the cockpit:ok:

[flyinggit]

I met a guy some time ago now in a model club I was in who was a 737 skipper who mentioned he stayed in the transport industry after the collapse, driving a taxi truck!

FG

[Horatio Leafblower]

I went through the pilot selection process about a month before they collapsed.

I still caryy the boarding pass from my flight down to MEL for the tests - my last AN flight - in my flight bag as a reminder.

...yeah OK I admit... I haven't cleaned out my flight bag for 7 years... :ooh:

[Jethro Gibbs]

A few have become the best a%#e kissers Avalon has ever seen.

[DGR]

I wasn't flight crew, but was closely involved for 26 years almost to the day. I'm still in aviation but now reside in Montreal. It's been an interesting ride...

[tinpis]

There is something emotive about the ANSETT brand isnt there?
Surprised that someone didnt pick it up and run with it.

[Gnadenburg]

At least 30 ex AN guys at Dragonair in Hong Kong. Most got their commands there in under 3 years. All of them good guys!

It peaked at 42- and pushed over sixty if you included 89ers. :}

The record was around 10 months to command during a period when failure rates were running toward 50%. Ansett had a high standard of 'relaxed professionalism' which made for an ease of adaptability to other airlines.

[Captain Dart]

Only 89ers were true Ansett pilots.

[Gnadenburg]

And more than a few true to themselves.........

The little industrial tiff at KA seemed to have more 89ers in cozy company slots than slogging it out with the troops.

Thankfully a new generation of ex-AN was there- half the committee in fact.

Well done boys!

[midsection]

Hi All

So far this thread is going well. Thanks for keeping it that way.:D:D

[Buster Hyman]

Nah Tinny, leave it be. It was good while it lasted, and it'll never be the same again.

I see the Trolls are circling.....:rolleyes:

[Whiskery]

Hey Buster heard on the grapevine your beloved Bombers had a win against the Freo Fokkers (or should that be Frockers)on the week end. Hope you make the eight, we'll be waiting for you !!!:E

HOT PIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:ok:

[Wizofoz]

Good selection up here at EK. Some of the guys who spent years frustrated in the RHS at AN are now 777 ans A330/340 Training Captains. Many still arriving after taking various routes OS and a good few migrating after having a gut-full at VB, QF and J*.

Ex-AN pilots have done well post 2001, but the ones that have done best have been those able to put it behind them and adapt to new ways of doing things.

AN was full of great people and was a cushy job, but, let's face it, it was never a well run business.

I've since worked for Europes biggest Lo-Co, and now work for probably the most profitable Airline on earth. It opens your eyes to the realities of the industry some what!!

AN was a great chapter in my life, and the collapse was a tragedy, but the ride since has been, to say the least, interesting!!

[Captain Nomad]

My favourite memories of Ansett: sitting in my room in the southern fringes of Brisbane of a night studying through high school, listening to the scanner and waiting for the unmistakable sound of the 727 flight (to Mel?) overflying late in the evening. That was also in the days when everyone had the sense to use acft regos and I had them all figured out with a mental dictionary of callsigns and types...! :8 Ahhh, aircraft noise at its best! The F28s were also nice to listen to... As Yoda would say, "the good old days, gone they are!" :{

[Buster Hyman]

Ahh Whiskery...sorry if we woke you!

I'll be happy to give you a wave on our way past you into the eight!;)

[tinpis]

Did the F27 freighters continue to the end/after 89 ?
I've misremembered...

[john_tullamarine]

Long off the dogwhistle by 89 but didn't they all get retired much earlier .. I think that we only had the 727 freighter ... as I recall the Goose had gone as well ? ... plenty of F50s about, though, at the time.

Dreadful how the memory turns to jelly ...

[Section28- BE]

Was VH-WAN ex the West not a F27??

Think it may have been on the East coast toward the end???

[john_tullamarine]

.. at one stage, WAN was Ralph Caponi's 310 as I recall and was based at Essendon.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

Hey Pyro! I got one of those - are they worth anything to memorabilia collectors?

Its now about as useful as the Golden Wings subscription I paid a couple of weeks before the collapse and the 50,000+ Frequent Flyer points that went down the drain with it.

Dr :8

(Dives for the nearest foxhole)

[Lasiorhinus]

Dr K, you could see what Flarose will give you for it... they might be able to sell it!

[Teal]

you could see what Flarose will give you for it...You'd be lucky to get five bucks for it on eBay. Currently 190+ 'Ansett' items for sale. A lot of stuff still circulating around after all these years....

the ANSETT brandYeah likewise, I was surprised the Administrators never tried to sell the business names and associated logos, trademarks and goodwill of the brand, like a couple of entrepreneurs did with the Pan Am name and logo a few years ago.

[tinpis]

Haaayy....I got one of these...nice little note ..Rupert and I would like to thank you..
:rolleyes:

http://i2.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/fa/72/4cef_2.JPG

on ebay...

[Section28- BE]

John_T

Quick Google trawl- the rego was for Western Australian News/Newspapers??.


Ex: aussieairliners.net (http://www.aussieairliners.org)

http://www.aussieairliners.org/f-27/vh-fnq/1999.331.jpg




VH-FNQ. Fokker F.27-4108. c/n 10315.
was also registered as: VH-WAN.
First flown as PH-FKK - December 3, 1966
Entered onto the Australian Aircraft Register as VH-FNQ - December 16, 1966
Delivered new to Ansett-A.N.A. at Melbourne - December 24, 1966
Entered service with Ansett-ANA - December 1966
Operated some Ansett Airlines of South Australia services - July 1973
Operated joint services with Ansett Airlines of Northern Australia - April 29, 1981 to August 1, 1982
First F.27 to be painted in the new Ansett 'Southern Cross' colors - September 1982
Operated its final Ansett service - Mackay-Hamilton Island-Cairns - July 26, 1989
Ferried Cairns-Melbourne for storage - 47,950 hours - August 21, 1989
Leased to Safe Air, New Zealand - December 6, 1989 to May 20, 1990
Departed Melbourne on delivery flight - December 6, 1989
Sold to Rex Aviation / Ansett N.Z. - November 7, 1990
Departed Melbourne on delivery flight - November 7, 1990
Cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register - November 12, 1990
Registered to Rex Aviation as ZK-RTA - November 12, 1990
Returned to Ansett Australia at Melbourne - March 31, 1996
Leased to Independent Air Freighters - April 1, 1996
Entered onto the Australian Aircraft Register as VH-WAN - May 22, 1996.

In storage at Tamworth (owned by the Ansett Administrators) - 2005

[tinpis]

Operated its final Ansett service - Mackay-Hamilton Island-Cairns - July 26, 1989

The going north crew would pax to Mackay and relieve returning BNE crew who were well and truly shagged after two days off in CNS :rolleyes:

Thank you :ok:

[Captain Dart]

Yes Tinpis, I well remember the Christmas cake in the tin we got as a reward for a very productive year for Ansett. In the same year, Cathay Pacific crew got 2.8 months profit share plus their regular '13th month' (on A Scales of course).

My daughter used the tin for her coloured pencils before I left for Hong Kong.

[permFO]

For the nostalgic types the Ansett name and logo still lives at Garden Drive at the sim centre. It's always a step back in time as the rooms are still the same with the same CRM posters on the wall. I still get a laugh at the poster that had "All Ansett pilots need: good CRM skills etc etc " and someone had pencilled in one more attribute- a job! My road post Ansett has been like a Holden testing ground! I have managed to tick all the boxes of things I said I would never have to do when I was sitting comfortably in the RHS of a 737. Of course the only box I really wanted to tick was the final check to line for Command. As that opportunity is shortly about to come my way this thread will be a good moment to say farewell to permFO. If I get the tick it will be irrelevant and if I don't then I'll look for something else to do. Adios amigos!

[john_tullamarine]

the rego was for Western Australian News/Newspapers??.

regos chop and change .. unless things have changed with CASA the only real restriction is that a rego doesn't go to the same Type as previously feathered.

FNQ brings back a few fond memories ... of Track Trips and alleged naughty goings-on in Darwin and the Alice ... must have involved someone else .. we were always good Christian folk on my trips ... some of the time, at least ... :hmm:

[Milt]

John Tullamarine

Did I really post that story about the 2 circuit conversions to a Comet 2C preceding full bore flight testing? or are you confusing it with the latest Newsletter for the Flight Test Society of OZ.

Where did the Ansett opo Gerry Backhouse go? His son should now be a skipper someplace.

[max1]

I've still got a Compass Mark 2 ticket, I live in hope.

[john_tullamarine]

Milt .. FTSA newletter .... loved the yarn ... you guys must have been a tad busy working out where all the switches and knobs were for the first circuit or two. Reminds me of my first single seat endorsement (on the Callair at RIC) .. the ASI was on top of the dash for some reason and I couldn't find it until I was three parts the way downwind ... saved by wind in the wires on that occasion ... probably the 300-400 ft cloudbase was a distraction on the day ... but we needed to get it done so I could go towing the next day ... two circuits on the Friday and the rest of the handling stuff on the first few descents on the Saturday ... guess one wouldn't be able to do that sort of thing these days ... ?

[CorporalGlideFoot]

Was on the CRJ at KD so also lost job. As did every member of my family at mainline (the other three). My dad having been there 37 years at the end. Worked in factories and pubs then joioned the Victoria Police. Fantastic experience. From there have moved onto my 4th airline in the Middle East. Great oppurtunities here but of course would have loved to wear the blue shirt. (Not VicPol).
I hope everyone is doing well.

[wombat12]

I had 9 years with Ansett and loved every minute.

The worse thing that ever happened to Australian aviation was the demise of Ansett. While they were in operation, they kept Qantas under control and look at Qantas now!

[Skystar320]

Back in the good old days.............. My application was in just before they went under

I know of two ex pilots from Ansett now wearing the blue uniform keeping the peace under controlllll